Brethren,

Trust this finds you well? Please forgive me for sending this so late. I ran into some serious hitch

This Sunday, we look at the last of the Beatitudes. It must have shocked Jesus’ listeners that He wrapped up the Beatitudes with the bow of persecution, the same way many would want wish away this reality for the man who would associate with Jesus Christ. 

Key Learnings:
1. The more we demonstrate the characteristics of the kingdom in our lives, the more we will be persecuted by the world.
2. It is important to note that it is because of Jesus Christ and the gospel that believers are and will face persecution. Knowing and embracing this truth will make us all the more ready for it when it happens.
3. When Christ calls for us to “Rejoice and be glad,” these verbs are imperatives in the Greek. Therefore, they are not mere suggestions, but holy commands from our Lord. We must, as an act of obedience, choose to rejoice and leap for joy when criticized and thought strange for Christ. We do this in the same way that we seek to give thanks in everything, as this is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus (1 Thess 5:18).

See outline attached for your reference and advance preparation.

Brethren,

Hope this finds you well?

This week, we come to the 7th Beatitude – the blessedness of the peacemakers.

Key Learning Points:

1. By being peacemakers, we become like Jesus Christ who, as the Prince of Peace, came to reconcile us first to God, and then to one another.
2. Peacemaking is action. It requires that we step into conflict and attempt resolution. That is exactly what Jesus did. He stepped into the world and made peace between God and man, and between man and man. And then He handed the ministry of reconciliation to us.
3. Sometimes, peacemaking attempts may fail. However, the admonition remains to live peaceably with all men as much as it depends on you.

See attached outline for your reference.

Isaiah 9:6

Brethren,

How are you doing today? I trust you are well.

This week, we look at the second part on the blessedness of the pure in heart. This time, we shall be considering how we might grow in purity.

Key Learnings points are:
1. To be pure in heart means to be free from defilements. The pure heart is marked by transparency and an uncompromising desire to please God in all things. It is more than an external purity of behaviour; it is an internal purity of soul.
2. We are admonished to pursue peace with all men, and holiness without which no one will see the Lord. While the Lord cleanses us from all impurity when we come to Him, we are instructed to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
3. Only the pure can see God. We will see God when we ride on the finished work of Jesus Christ through His death on the Cross of Calvary. The sinless Saviour has the capacity to transform a sinful heart into a sinless life.

See outline attached for your reference

Psalm 32:1-2

Brethren,

This Sunday, we shall look at the sixth beatitude – the blessedness of the pure in heart, with a special focus on purity of devotion to God. It reminds one of the first commandment – to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.

Our Key Learning Points are:

1.      Purity of heart is to love and will one thing. That is what loving God with all one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength is all about. God becomes the ONLY thing for the person who is single-minded in their devotion to God.

2.      Single-minded devotion to God removes all the confusion that life often brings. That is what it means to have implicit trust in God and that is how we get to see only God and what He is doing and what He wants

3.      Faith is the eye that sees God. And through faith in Christ, we are made right with God and privileged to see God in our daily decisions of obedience expressed by our refusal to dishonour God’s name by idolatry or by hypocrisy.

See attached outline for your reference and advance preparation

Psalm 27:4

Brethren,

This week we come to the fifth beatitude as contained in the Sermon on the Mount – This blessedness of the merciful. And when you think of Peter’s question which triggered Jesus’ story in Matthew 18:21-35, you realize how much we need this beatitude.

Key Learning Points:
1. To be merciful is to be God-like because mercy is an attribute of God and pervades everything He does to and for us.
2. Mercy consists of treating people better than they deserve from us. It shows itself in many ways such as forgiveness, compassion to the needy, patience to those who deserve to be punished. Forgiveness is a type of mercy. So is aiding someone whom we have no obligation to help, or abstaining from exploiting someone’s vulnerability.
3. Anyone who has tasted God’s mercy and then refuses to be merciful to others is short sighted and denies who God is

The outline is attached for your reference and advance preparation.

1 Timothy 1:13-17

Brethren,

Love is in the air But that is not the topic of our Bible Study this Sunday. Our Bible Study this week continues our quarter series on the Beatitudes. And we shall be looking at the Blessedness of those who hunger and thirst.

Key Learning Points are:
1. Many People crave for many things today – food, water, love, power, etc., but God will have His children to hunger and thirst for His righteousness. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to crave for God’s essence. It is to long to do what God wants more than anything else. It is not hunger and thirst after experience, miracle, or blessing.
2. Our need for God, discouragements and the challenges of everyday life and living makes actively hungering and thirsting for God an imperative for any believer. Just as the human being naturally never ceases to hunger and thirst for food and things, so our spiritual beings ought to continue to hunger and thirst for God and for His righteousness.
3. The promised blessing is the richness of a life continually nourished in and by God. It is not to be pursued. Rather is graciously given to those who pursue God.

See attached outline for your further reference and advance preparation.

Isaiah 55:1-2

Brethren,

Happy new month. 

We continue with our quarter series on the Beatitudes. This time, we look at the blessedness of the meek.

Key Learnings:
1. “Meekness” is a humble attitude that expresses itself in the patient endurance of offences. “Gentleness” is a practical synonym. It implies mercy and self-restraint. Meekness is not weakness; it is power under control.
2. Though the world may not celebrate or appreciate it, meekness is expected in the life of a believer. Scripture not only commands it, but holds up many examples of meekness, including our Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Though meekness may be reviled by the world, But God promises that those who are meek, who submit to God and trust him to defend them, who submit their power to God will inherit the perfect kingdom God is establishing here and now – the earth. In this kingdom, we receive by God’s grace the good things the arrogant fruitlessly strive for in the present earth, and more.  

See attached outline for your reference.

Matthew 5:5

Brethren,

Often, our prayers tend to incline towards a problem free life. But in ‘Blessed are those who mourn,’ our Lord Jesus seems to be turning that on its head. Please see attached outline as you prepare for this challenging teaching on the blessedness of loss/grief. 

Key learning points include:

1. God desires that we mourn when we commit sin, i.e., experience godly sorrow, and that we repent genuinely and turn away from our evil ways so that we can spend eternity with Him. One’s attitude to sin should be a feeling like that of mourning the death of someone he or she loves because our sin requires payment in blood.
2. To mourn in the way Jesus meant, one must come to terms with what is at stake; understand and come to terms with man’s greatest loss.  We should be saddened by the things that sadden God. What breaks God’s heart ought to break our hearts as well. 
3. Those who learn to mourn over their own sin find the heart of God. And intimate fellowship with God is the very foundation of true happiness. 

God promises comfort to those who mourn. And He means it.

This SUnday, we continue our study on the blessedness of those who are poor in spirit. This time, our focus is on humility and dependence as aspects of that poverty of spirit.

Key Learning points include:

1.     Dependence on God enables humility because we realize Jesus is the only possible strength for our weakness. To pretend otherwise is folly.

2.     When we all humble ourselves before God and one another (whether we are in a position of authority/leadership within the church/society or otherwise), the church is a beautiful representation of the kingdom. It is a loving, supporting spiritual family and a strategic outpost for outreach and ministry in the world. 

3.     One cannot receive the good news of the Gospel, embrace the word of God, or learn from it if he/she has not first recognized a desperate need for it. In this sense, being “poor in spirit” is a prerequisite to receiving the grace of God. 

See attached outline for your reference.

May every blessing be yours.

This week we dig into the kingdom blessings. Our first stop is surrender as an aspect of being poor in spirit.

Key Learning points include:

1.     Jesus came to this earth not to set up a physical, material, or political kingdom but to usher in a spiritual kingdom, the kingdom of heaven.

2.     To be candidates for God’s kingdom, we need to be spiritually poor – this requires that we surrender our old beliefs and ways to receive the new things of the kingdom of the heavens.”.

3.     As people of the kingdom of God, we must never allow our spiritual experiences and God-given talents and abilities to hinder us before our great God and Father.